A couple weeks ago, we did something different for ministry. We did our usual 30 minute walk to our host’s house and did our “amad time” (or however you spell it) – an hour on our own to pray, get into God’s Word, and listen to what He has for us that day or for us personally. When we met up as a group again, Brian told us that we weren’t going to do what he had planned for ministry – God had given him a different direction.
That day, we did a treasure hunt. The best part was that the treasure we were going to set out to find was people. People are treasures. We sat in our teams and listened to what God wanted us to find. Our list looked a little bit like this:
Hospital/Houses near hospital
Woman/Red
Someone doing dishes
Brown jacket
Man in a black beanie frying something
School
Fruit/Give something away
Once we had our list of things to find, our team plus our wonderful friend and translator, Benita, set out for the day. First we saw a woman walking with her little boy. She was wearing a red jacket, so Katie chased her down (almost literally). Katherine told her about Jesus and what He has done for her. She listened to everything she had to say, but she said she was Hindu. She did say that she has questioned if God is real a few times before, which means God is working in her heart. I just know it.
After walking a little more, we stopped at a make shift house near the hospital and met a man there. Audrey asked what he believed – he said he was Hindu. She told him about God, but he said he doesn’t believe in any gods (which was interesting to me considering he’s Hindu). She asked if she could pray for him, but he repeatedly said no and asked us if there was anything else we wanted. I truly believe that the Lord is going to soften his heart and work wonders in him. My prayer for him is Ezekiel 36:26 which says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
We walked a little further and entered the hospital. For a little while, we walked around aimlessly, wondering what it was the God wanted for us here. Then we came across a security guard – Audrey and Mily started talking to him. I saw a boy in a wheelchair sitting by the window with his parents, so I followed Katherine over to talk to them. The boy in the wheel chair had a tube in his nose and lots of bandages. We soon found out that the boy had been either hit by a bus or was in a bus when it crashed. His father’s sister was with him and was killed on impact. That broke my heart. But praise God for keeping this little guy alive – he looked to be about 9 or 10 years old. The dad said that his son has been recovering really well and that he should be in the hospital only until next week (the accident occurred a few months ago, so I imagine they’re pleased to soon be out of there). The boy didn’t talk much, so we communicated by playfully sticking our tongues out at each other. He had some of the most beautiful brown eyes – I could tell that he’s a good, sweet kid, with a gentle heart. His parents were very nice too. Before leaving, we prayed for them. They seemed grateful – I pray that someday they all come to know Christ.
After leaving, we walked to the corner fruit stand, bought some grapes and other fruits and kept going. We walked down a different road than we usually do. We found an elderly woman sitting down, so Katherine gave her some grapes.
While we were looking over a nearby wall, we saw a woman washing dishes (or something else, I’m not sure), so we decided to walk down there. The woman welcomed us with a smile – she was so sweet. Katie asked if she could do anything for her, so she was soon pulling a bucket up from the well to get water for her. Soon after, she was picking up her large pig’s poop with a shovel and small broom. It was great. The woman was so sweet and her laugh was the cutest thing. She hurried to get us something to sit on – even if she didn’t have a place for herself to sit. We got to meet her “village sister,” which is what they often call their friends from other villages. A little later, the woman’s daughter came home from school. I found this interesting: her daughter goes to a Christian school, even though they’re Hindu. I can’t help but think how awesome it is that she gets to go to school and learn about Jesus. Someday. Holy Spirit’s gonna come in to their hearts. I know it. The rest of our time there consisted of Katie racing the girl and the woman making us all tea (which later resulted in every one of us having stomach issues and trips to the bathroom). I’m thankful for their kindness and hospitality. Never fails to make me smile and fill my heart with happiness.
That was the most fun treasure hunt I’ve ever done. We found just a few of God’s many treasures – humans. I hope that every day I can look at people like I’m looking at treasure – because that’s what they are. Precious, loved, wanted treasure.
